Flourishing in Türkiye: A comprehensive country-specific analysis of wellbeing-related outcomes in the Global Flourishing Study

Abstract

Measures of flourishing provide a comprehensive assessment of multiple facets of well-being, broadening how well-being can be studied and promoted. The current study uses large-scale data collected by the Global Flourishing Study, which includes nationally representative samples from 202,898 participants from 22 countries around the world. Specifically, it presents an analysis of 69 wellbeing outcomes in the Türkiye sample (N = 1,473), examining demographic and socioeconomic correlates of wellbeing while comparing Türkiye’s average scores of wellbeing with the pooled estimates for the combined set of all 22 countries included in the Global Flourishing Study. The analyses revealed disparities in wellbeing, with young people and ethnic minorities generally reporting lower wellbeing across most outcomes. Individuals aged 50 and older and frequent religious service attenders tended to report greater wellbeing. Those with higher education reported greater personal well-being but lower satisfaction with the social-political context. Compared to the pooled cross-country estimates, Türkiye scored lower across most psychological and social wellbeing outcomes, while some religion/spirituality outcomes were higher in Türkiye. We contextualize these results with respect to current and historical cultural, political, and socioeconomic conditions of Türkiye, and point to future research directions. The findings from this research can inform policies that aim at promoting wellbeing in an equitable and effective manner in the context of Türkiye.